The Past and the Purpose
by OgichiRocks
Summary: A very short and abrupt one-shot in which Tony's past is slightly revealed to the rest of the Avengers... Made for a request... no pairings.


**This is a one-shot request that I have done for the follower Booklover2526 who found the song reference in the first chapter of The Side-Effects (another story I am working on) **

**I'm not sure how well this one turned out, and I think I may add another chapter to round things out... **

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Tony wasted no time in running away from the prying questions bombarding him for the past few days. Once the team had settled down in Stark Tower, and no immediate threat to the world had appeared, they had soon become restless. The only way to sate their growing boredom was to learn more about each other. It had started with a sleepover, consisting of Natasha, Thor, and Pepper. Then it had grown to the whole team eating meals together. Tony had managed to dodge most of the prying questions aimed at him by shooting out more questions aimed at the others.

They had learned about Pepper's first kiss. Thor's entire life story. Natasha and Clint had finally revealed what had actually happened at Budapest (although their stories still conflicted so no one was really sure about the facts). Bruce's career before the Hulk. But nobody had learned anything about Tony, and he liked it that way. Until they ran out of questions for each other.

Tony had set up three locks to his lab, along with locks on the air vents to prevent Clint from sneaking in. He then proceeded to turn his music up as loud as it would go, and tried desperately to ignore the faces staring through the glass wall separating the lab from the staircase.

"Tony! You're going to have to come out of there someday, we'll be waiting!" Clint yelled through the glass when Tony's song ended.

"Not if I can help it, you guys are too nosey!" Tony retorted and turned on another song. He knew they were right though, in his mad dash for the lab he had forgotten to bring any snacks and it was nearing dinner time. He glanced at the glass wall and noticed that the team had set a watch. It was Natasha's turn. Natasha had been the least nosey out of everybody, knowing full well that some secrets were better left unknown.

"Widow, mind grabbing me a snack?" Tony spoke through an intercom he had set up earlier that day.

"Not until you answer some questions, Stark. I'm very tempted to call Thor down and have him use his hammer on this glass." Tony sighed at her response and huffed around, pouting at his situation. He hated being personal. But he was feeling very hungry. He had skipped lunch and breakfast to avoid his intruding teammates.

"Fine. I'll answer one question if you bring me food. And bring me the food first." He set his terms and he thought he could see Natasha's eyes light up in a devious way.

"Alright, I'll go get the food. Better prepare to answer the whole team though."

"Wait no! I just meant-" But Natasha had already disappeared from sight.

When Natasha returned, followed by the rest of the Avengers and Pepper Potts, the doors to Tony's lab were open, they found the man sitting on his couch, drink in hand.

"Here." Natasha handed Tony a plate with some cheese and crackers on it, along with a single pop tart. Tony glared at Thor and saw pop tart crumbs in his beard.

"Fine. Good enough. You've just bought one question for the great Tony Stark, ask away." He said in a grand voice, dreading which question they had chosen for him.

"Why do you have your arc reactor?" The question came from Clint, but left Tony slightly shocked. He never wanted to speak about what happened in Afghanistan. Ever.

"Well… because there's shrapnel.." He started off with the generic response, but Bruce stopped him.

"Tony, we all know about the shrapnel. We know that you need it to live. We want to know why though, why did you get it in the first place?" Tony slumped in his seat and took a swig of his drink. The ice clattered when he set the glass down.

"Okay. Fine. You guys deserve to know what happened- What led up to the arc reactor." He leaned forward, hunching his shoulders as painful memories tried to fight their way to the surface. "I guess it started with my dad. With the weapons department of Stark Industries. I was going to show a new missile off in Afghanistan-"

As soon as Tony said those words the memories broke free and took over his mind. He was no longer sitting on a couch in his lab, but instead reliving the events of the three months of his captivity. He felt the explosion that sent the shrapnel through his bullet-proof vest and into his chest. He felt the blood and pain as he was captured and bound and punished. He felt the cold and hunger and fear as he woke up in a cave. He re-met Yinsen and created the arc reactor all over again. He built the mark one in the cold dank cavern and escaped through fiery waves of agony. He watched Yinsen sacrifice himself again. He burnt the missiles again. He flew away and landed in the desert again.

"-ony! Tony, wake up!" Steve and Bruce were shaking his shoulders as the waves of memory made him convulse. He slowly pulled out of the memories and sat up, although he was still shaking. He was drenched in sweat and felt hot and cold at the same time.

"Tony, are you okay? Are you with us?" Pepper was holding his hand and her face was flooded with concern.

"Yeah-" Tony cleared his throat. "Yeah, I'm good. Just a little, dizzy." Tony tried to stand up with the help of Steve and Bruce, but as soon as he was on his feet, his consciousness faded and he was asleep in their arms.

"I guess he really was hungry." Clint said, trying to calm the tension in the room with a joke. It landed flat though.

The entire room was filled with somber, regretful looks as they watched Tony sleep on the couch he had fallen off of.

"I should have warned you guys that he might have PTSD. I guess I just thought it wouldn't affect him." Pepper had tears running down her face and she leaned against Natasha for comfort, one hand still holding Tony's.

"I fear the questioning and constant interrogation has put too much stress on our beloved friend. Perhaps we should give him some space." Thor spoke quietly for once, as though he was experienced in the matter. The rest of the team nodded and, with final glances at the sleeping man, they exited the lab.

It was a few hours later when Tony walked into the kitchen area holding his head and grumbling about thirst. The rest of the team had all managed to occupy themselves with various entertainment while he was sleeping. Natasha, Pepper, Clint, and Thor were watching a movie, while Bruce and Steve read that mornings newspaper.

"Hey Tony, feeling better?" Pepper stepped away from the tv and watched as Tony made himself a glass of water.

"Yeah, whatever, I've come up with this new way to shield the helicarrier." He shared his invention with the room as though nothing had happened. Then he carried his glass of water with him back into the elevator and the doors closed behind him, leaving the room in a shocked silence.

"Well I guess that wasn't unexpected." Clint broke the silence.

"He does that. Pushes his emotions down and pretends like nothing happened. He did that with Afghanistan too. He still has nightmares though, I know." Pepper sat down at the bar and crossed her arms. She hated to see Tony suppress his emotions like he did.

"I'm sure he'll be fine, he just needs more time to himself." Natasha knew what Tony had been through, she had read his file, but she hadn't expected him to react so violently to memories like he had.

"We shall speak with him later to see how he fares." Thor spoke, and then grabbed a handful of popcorn when Natasha un-paused their movie.

The next day, Tony Stark was gone.

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**Thanks for making it through, I hope you liked it! If you did, review, and then go check out my other stories! I know it's really suspenseful, but I intend to leave it that way and it's up to your imagination what happens. **

**If you want, message me and I will allow you to continue the story in any way you wish! Make sure to message me about it first though :)**


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